


honey, baby, sweetheart

by cherishmartell



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Pet Names, aka Seth was bitten and Richie and Kate have their own Mexican Honeymoon, feelings are hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:33:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26959609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherishmartell/pseuds/cherishmartell
Summary: The day everything changes between them is mundane in every way.
Relationships: Kate Fuller/Richard Gecko
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	honey, baby, sweetheart

**Author's Note:**

> title taken from Deb Caletti's novel _Honey, Baby, Sweetheart_.
> 
> This was inspired by one of those "imagine your otp" prompts. This one was "Imagine Person A casually calling B sweetie or hon or something for the first time and B just being (*//*)". I can't find the original link to this and I'd really like to credit the original poster; if you recognize it and happen to know the original poster, please let me know in the comments! Thanks! :)

The day everything changes between them is mundane in every way. They’re out, shopping for supplies. Their latest robbery paid well, not enough for new IDs, but it means they can take a break from greasy burgers and soggy fries. They’re careful, stopping in a place several towns away from their most recent holdup. He wears a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes, and sunglasses, salvaged from his days with his brother. She’s braided her hair back, sunglasses firmly in place; she’s ditched her hat in the car, eager for a few minutes of freedom.

They’ve only been in the store five minutes when Kate hits a snag; she has a chipped plastic basket hooked over her forearm, and she’s straining to reach the bag of rice on a shelf that’s _just_ out of reach. She gives an impatient huff as she stands on her tiptoes, and only manages to brush the corner of the bag.

She’s tired and impatient and just as she’s about to rock back on her heels and start looking for the other items on her list, a large, warm hand on her waist stops her. “Need some help, Katie Kakes?” 

She wrinkles her nose, a wave of irritation and grief at the sound of what _was_ her dad’s nickname for her, but she nods, indicating the rice with a small jerk of her chin. Richie’s hand stays where it is as he steps closer, crowding her against the shelves as he reaches up with ease, his free hand wrapping around the source of Kate’s current irritation.

There’s something easy about that moment, so deceptively normal that makes Kate’s heart ache. She can feel his chest, solid and wiry, settle against her back as he drops the rice into her basket; it lands with a quiet thud. “Thanks, hon.” The words were out of her mouth before she could call them back. She feels Richie stiffen, his chest locking up before he pulls away.

Kate feels her stomach drop nervously as she fiddles with the cracking plastic covers on the handles of the basket. It’s been nearly five months since The Twister, and they’ve only just managed to find their rhythm. It hasn’t been easy, coaxing Richie back out of his shell after his brother’s ‘death’ and subsequent abandonment. Nor has it been easy for her. She grieved for her dad, her brother, worried over Scott and cursed him for leaving her with a blue eyed devil. 

Her resentment lasted the longest. It clung to her stubbornly, ignoring the basic tenets of her faith. She'd hated him, hated the Gecko boys for what that had dragged her family into. _Dragged her into._ She had no hope for a normal life now; applying to college, saving up for a car, they were the dreams of someone naive, _innocent_. That bitterness was with her in everything she did, poisoned every word, clouded every gesture. 

_And tangled up in that anger was an emotion both pure and wretched._

In the beginning, she thought the bloodbath at The Twister had stifled her crush, her burgeoning attraction throttled by a scarlet lipped temptress with unnatural power. She'd hated him, _hated_ him for dragging her out, saving her when her Daddy had died and Scott… 

Richie forced her to live, to survive. She could see how her hatred hurt him, how pained he'd looked when she'd shied away from him, answered him in monosyllables, refused to go into the church he'd found in the days after. In those first few weeks she thought he'd give up, dump her at the border to make her own way home while he returned to his old life. 

Kate underestimated just how patient he was. 

Her affection for him found new life when the awkward tenderness Richie had shown her in the days before _it_ resurfaced. The way he gets up early to start the coffee, even though she is the only one to drink it. The way he'd held her hair back when she'd vomited after their first holdup, rubbing her back and murmuring what sounded like apologies. The way she catches him stealing looks at her before hurriedly glancing away. 

_Her resentment grew weaker, lost its teeth while her affection grew stronger._

Kate remembered what it had taken them to survive, to get to where they are now, and the distance they still have to go. She'd resolved to never speak of it, to maintain the delicate equilibrium of their partnership. 

Something she's managed to destroy with one simple, carelessly spoken word.

She finally turns, opening her mouth to apologize, to blame her slip up on one too many cups of coffee and nights of interrupted sleep. But she does neither, after seeing the state Richie Gecko is in. 

The cerebral half of the infamous Gecko Brothers has gone pink; even the skin of his neck is infused with blotched color. That isn’t the only thing to quiet her. It’s the naked vulnerability in the face of the man who was never good at _simple human connection_ , the raw longing that the usually cool and collected Richard Gecko would have never allowed.

Something in Kate warms as she tucks a fly away strand behind her ear and offers him a timid, hopeful smile. It takes a shell-shocked Richie a few moments before he replicates the gesture.

Kate knows she’s changed the dynamics of their relationship as they turn to head down the aisle. But, when she reaches out for his calloused hand, and feels the slow, careful squeeze of his fingers around hers, she can’t bring herself to worry. There’s time for that later.  
Right now, she just wants to enjoy the feel of his hand around hers as they look for groceries.


End file.
